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| Friday, 28 January 2005 |
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| Inter-Ministerial paddy purchasing program for Maha: Govt. plans 200,000 mt buffer stock by Uditha Kumarasinghe The Government has made arrangements to store 200,000 metric tons of paddy as buffer stocks during the forthcoming Maha season. Agriculture, Livestock and Lands Ministry together with Agricultural Marketing Development, Co-operative Development and Hindu Affairs Ministry will jointly implement an Inter-Ministerial Paddy Purchasing Program to purchase Maha paddy harvest from farmers at concessionary rates, Agriculture Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a media briefing yesterday. The Treasury has approved a sum of Rs. 750 million to implement the first phase of this paddy purchasing program, the Minister said. "Even if the country could claim to have a sufficient paddy production to cater to the local needs, country's paddy production had declined in some harvesting seasons due a variety of unexpected natural disasters. Therefore the Government's responsibility is to safeguard both farmers and consumers in such situations. But it is sad that whoever was in power in the past had failed to introduce a systematic program to reserve a buffer stock for use in times of need," he said. "With this in view the two Ministries have decided to have a buffer stock of 200,000 metric tons of paddy in our stores. If ever the prices of rice in the local market were to go up rapidly, then Government would be in a position to mill the paddy stock at hand and systematically release them into open market to counterbalance the prices of rice in the market," he said. The Minister said that the experience in the past show that even if a large amount of paddy production was made locally there was no systematic method utilised to offer concessionary price to farmers for their paddy and also provide rice to consumers to a fair price. Therefore the Government has taken steps to formulate a mechanism covering all three key areas of purchase paddy, mill them and sale them. Dissanayake further said the new mechanism formulated by the Government comprise 25 graduates who will supervise this paddy purchasing process. They will be given a motorcycle and a mobile phone to conduct their work. To implement the paddy purchasing process in a more efficient manner,this new mechanism will be affiliated to Co-operative societies,Agrarian Services Societies and MARKFED. The Government intends to pay Rs. 16.50 per Kilo of 'Samba' and 'Rathu Kekulu' paddy, Rs. 15.50 per Kilo of 'Nadu'. Farmers in the North and East will be paid one rupee more as a 'relief measure' considering the hardships encountered by them in the very recent past, he said. "To maintain fare price for paddy during the harvesting season, we have discussed with banks to grant loans to farmers to match the stock of paddy in their possession. This will help them to sell their paddy stock and pay their loans back." The Government while plans to implement a special credit scheme for the benefit of small and medium-scale rice mill owners, has also decided to reduce the interest rate for loans taken by the large-scale rice mill owners," he said. As the paddy purchasing exercise is a challenge and we need to overcome it within a short period, the Agriculture Ministry together with Agricultural Marketing Ministry has commenced a hotline service which will operate round the clock daily under the following telephone numbers- 0112869696, 0112869697 and fax number 0112869698. Agricultural Marketing Development, Co-operative Development and Hindu Affairs Minister Douglas Devananda also spoke. |
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